Tips for Cracking Financial Analyst Interview

June 23, 2017

There is a certain glamour attached to the job of a Financial Analyst, it is a vital part of strategizing within any organisation. They are the ones who guard the secrets of the given organisation, and with all the data and analysis, they are able to guide establishments in making the right decisions.

Any profile of a financial analyst will have to be relevant in three areas, Education, Experience and Professional Credentials. Education could be either from finance or any other field with related certifications like CFA. Experience depends on what the organisation is looking for I.e., a junior or senior analyst. And lastly, Professional Credentials will be the knowledge you have in the given field or role.

Understand the position

Before one gets into what to expect, you, as a candidate need to be clear about the position you are applying for, financial analyst could mean different things in different organisations hence you need to read the job description of the organisation you are applying into, and understand the role responsibilities in detail before you face the interview.

Prepare for the Interview

Every organisation which is hiring, after the initial screening will like to understand if an applicant has the right skills to excel in the given role.

To assess the same, an interview will most often revolve around three stages,

An interviewer could start the interview in any format, from behavioural to technical or vice versa. Your handy tool will be to prepare and anticipate the questions.

A detailed research on the interviewer and the organisation that they represent will be one factor that might or will differentiate you from the pack.

There are specific answers and feelers that the HR and the process owners need to get from an applicant while considering to fill the position.

Behind every stage of an interview, the questions are asked to get an insight of a candidate’s ability and overall talent that they promise to bring to the role.

Read on to understand….

Experiential Skills

An interviewer is trying to gauge your reaction in a given situation. Today, an expectation from a financial analyst is to be good at marketing, along with other technical skills, yes! That is right, building a great strategy is wonderful, however, if you are unable to communicate the benefits to the non–technical audience, the battle is only half won.

Not only communication skills but, persuasion and passion for your job are what is being examined here. Efficiency in thought, ability to come up with valid approaches is what the interviewer is looking for. Remember, there are no right or wrong answers here, it is how you are able to convey what you are saying is right, that matters.

The more you marry your answers to, financial, logic and technical skills, the more your theory will have an impact.

Specific Role Based Questions

This is the part of the interview where you need to throw some serious financial jargons and explain the relevant financial methods, into explaining how and why certain reports need to be generated.

Brush up your financial skills, review all the application areas, and try to make a case study of whatever information you can gather about the organisation, through research. There is nothing more impressive than you are linking the company’s situation as an example in answering questions

Certain interviews would also give case studies, hence ensure that you know the technology you apply to your financial analysis. Practice concepts of actual financial statements.

You need to be clear on the headers you should look at while explaining a report. Clarity in financial fundamentals and ratios should be maintained while answering questions.

Also linking your answers with similar projects you have done in the past or read up about would be great.

Lastly, an interviewer is also looking at the excel and technical proficiency in generating appropriate reports. After all, a major portion of your time will be spent doing repeated procedures.

The question here is generally based on understanding if your practical knowledge matches what is mentioned in the CV. maintain congruence in what you say.

Behavioural Questions

Questions in this category are basically to understand your personality. Speak about your career goals and personally how do you see yourself grow in the role while working for this particular company.

Focus on your positivity, on how you handle failures or missed deadlines, flexibility in working as an individual contributor or with a team, commitment to putting in long hours etc…,

Speak about your success, from failures in particular, which shows patience, maturity and resilience.